Persia Jackson and the Olympians Read: TLT
by Sakuraslayer
Summary: Persia, Thalia and Nico have been sent to the past to read Persia's myth with the Olympians, Hades and the old heroes. Pretty soon, some others crash their party. What's this? Nico's jealous? Fem!Percy/Nico Rated because I'm paranoid. I OWN NOTHING! Please just give it a read.
1. Prologue

My name is Persia Jackson. I am a daughter of Poseidon. I just came back from the second Titan War and we met the Roman camp which joined with our camp and yeah. The Romans are too disciplined.

My best friend is Aldrin Chase and Grover Underwood. We were the strongest team in Camp Half-Blood.

Aldrin and I used to date until a few months ago when we decided that we were more like sibling than lovers, so we broke up.

Now with Aldrin staying at camp with his girlfriend Lucia and Grover as the Lord of the Wild, the strongest team now consists of me, Nico and Thalia.

That's right. Nico as in Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades and Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and yours truly, Persia Jackson, daughter of Poseidon.

More about me is that my mom thought I was a boy and was going to call me Perseus. My mom Sally Jackson. I am the same age as Nico which is 16 and I think of Thalia as my older sister. Yes, I know that Thalia is a Hunter of Artemis and all, but she still spends time with us campers. I respect certain gods and goddesses like Poseidon, Hades and Athena. My least favorite god is Ares, god of war. I also have a tiny crush on a certain son of Hades.

Today, I was with Nico and Thalia, hanging out and all when we were suddenly surrounded by a golden light and we were suddenly falling.

(Third Person P.O.V)

Olympus was having their annual Winter Solstice, meaning Hades was there. As usual, they were arguing about the stupidest thing like how air disasters were cooler than water disaster and how dare Hades kidnap an innocent goddess.

Suddenly, a golden light appeared and three kids came tumbling down. in a flash, Hestia made a couch appear and a girl and a guy fell on the couch with a oomph another girl just fell on the ground.

The girl on the couch had black, short, spiky hair, a silver jacket of Artemis and ripped jeans. The boy had black just-rolled-out-of-bed hair, black aviator jacket and black jeans.

The girl on the floor who was rubbing her behind has long black hair with blue undertones and green eyes. She was wearing a gray zip up hoodie over a navy t-shirt with a green flower on it and skinny jeans. She dusted herself off and pouted.

"Why do you guys get a couch when I have to land on the ground?" she demanded.

The girl with punk style spoke up with a smirk, "Because we're cool like that."

The other girl was about to retort when a heavy box fell out of nowhere and hit her head and she hit the ground again.

She screamed and got back up. Just then, the Olympians made themselves known with a cough and a loud blast of thunder.

The trio swung around, their sword and shields ready for battle.

They all looked at the gods and the boy broke the silence by saying, "Did you summon us?"

"No. Who are you?" Zeus demanded.

"You don't know us? Go figure. We save Olympus and they forget about us," the girl who was hit on the pouted.

"What year is it?" the punk girl asked as they all sheathed their weapons.

"2000," Poseidon answered, "Now, who are you?"

The boy stepped forward and bowed, "Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades and Maria Di Angelo and Ghost King. And for the record, I was born before the oath was created." He stepped back and the punk girl stepped forward. Zeus looked at miffed at Hades and his eyes widen a bit at seeing the punk girl.

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of Artemis," she said, before pushing the other girl forward.

"Persia Jackson, daughter of you'll find out later and Sally Jackson and savior of Olympus," the girl said.

Poseidon inwardly gasped. This couldn't be his little girl could she? She was only 1 for gods sake! Oh man, if the other gods find out...

Nico opened the box and said out loud while smirking, " These are books. And Percy, they're called Persia Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of The Labyrinth and The Last Olympian. Looks like we'll have to read it."

Athena spoke up, "I'll start." she flipped to the first page and cleared her throat. "**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher.**"


	2. Accidentally Vaporizing Teachers

Just then, the doors opened and Amphitrite and Triton walked in through the doors and looked around the room. "What happened?" Triton asked, "We were suddenly whisked here.

"We're reading about Persia Jackson," Artemis said, filling them in.

"Okay," Amphitrite nodded, "Go ahead."

"**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher**," Athena read.

"What did you do now?" Nico groaned.

Persia shrugged.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

Thalia and Nico nodded. "Wow," Thalia said," You said something sensible for once."

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**

"Run for the hills!" Thalia and Nico screamed, running around waving their arms like maniacs while the gods looked confused. Then accidentally ran into each other and hit the ground with Persia snickering at them.

"Persia's plans never, and I repeat never, work out," Nico explained, "They're either crazy, reckless, scary, death defying, life endangering or all five. The crazy thing is that the crazy stupid ones work and the good ones fail."

The gods were surprised, but nodded nonetheless.

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"Won't work," Amphitrite said kindly to Persia. Huh. She's so nice when she isn't jealous.

**Being a half-blood is dangerous.**

Thalia nodded, "Check."

**It's scary.**

"Check," Nico nodded.

**Most of the time, it get you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

"And check," Persia nodded sadly, thinking about the second titan war that costed so many lives.

"But that's the best part!" Ares screamed.

The other gods looked sad and guilty that the demigods felt that way.

Even Amphitrite and Triton looked sad for the half-bloods.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

The half-bloods all nodded.

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you fell something is stirring inside-stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. **

"You make us sound like a cult. So mysterious," Nico laughed.

**And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"What did you warn us about?" Apollo asked, getting a laugh out of Hermes and a whack on the head from Artemis.

"Boys," she muttered.

**My name is Persia Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. **

**Am I a troubled kid?**

"Yep," Thalia said.

"Most definitely," Nico added.

"Wow. You guys are so nice," Persia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Hermes and Apollo laughed, "How troubled are you, Persia?"

"I jumped off the Saint Louis arch," Persia said.

Hermes whistled. "Very troubled, then," he said.

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"Wow. You just admitted that you were troubled," Apollo said.

**I could start at any part of my life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our grade six class took a field trip to Manhattan-twenty-eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus,**

"Aren't school buses usually yellow?" Apollo asked, "I never got that."

"They're yellow because it's a bright color, allowing the buses to be noticed by other cars," Athena said.

**heading for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

Athena sat up straighter and Poseidon scoffed.

"Sounds like torture," he said.

"Shut up Barnacle Brain," Athena snapped and read again.

**I know-it sounds like torture.**

Poseidon blinked and smirked victoriously at Athena, who in turn rolled her eyes.

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher was leading this trip so I had high hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket which always smelled like coffee.**

"Chiron," everyone chorus at once.

**You wouldn't think he was cool, but he told stories and jokes and would like us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher that didn't put me to sleep.**

"You sleep in class?" Athena asked horrified.

"Yeah. ADHD," Persia shrugged.

**I hoped the trip would be OK. At least for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

"Please," Nico said, "You're a trouble magnet. Nobody attracts as many monsters as you do."

"Awesome!" Ares called, "That means more fights!"

**Boy was I wrong. **

"When are you not?" Thalia asked, innocently.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trip. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Sara-toga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus but of course, I got expelled anyway.**

All the boys and Thalia started laughing and a few immature boys (coughApolloHermescough) began to roll on the ground.

Even Hades and Hera couldn't keep in a laugh.

**And before that, at my forth-grade school when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

"Oh my gods!" Nico laughed, "You're amazing!"

Persia blushed and unluckily, Aphrodite saw and squealed inwardly.

**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**

"TELL US MORE!" Apollo and Hermes shrieks and was smacked on the head for their troubles.

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

"Good," Hera said.

At the same time, Apollo said, "Don't break the record!"

Artemis face palmed. Why, oh why, wasn't he born a girl?

**All the way into the city I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chinks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"We should try that!" Hermes said, eyes lighting up.

"Gods, no. It tastes nasty," Persia grimaced. "Nancy once shoved one down my throat once. I had a stomachache for the rest of the day."

"Are you okay?" Nico asked worriedly.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**

I'm telling Grover!" Thalia sang.

**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should have seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Way to blow his cover," Dionysus said, rolling his eyes.

"You're listening?" Persia asked.

Athena took this chance to read again.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her cause I was already on probation. The headmaster threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"That's boring," Apollo and Hermes whined.

**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

"Good. this book could have some action in it," Ares said. Hephaestus rolled his eyes.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's OK. I like peanut butter."**

"Stupid goat. Why'd he stop the fight?" Ares moaned.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

Ares grumbled.

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

"Who?" Apollo asked.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "You."

"What? No! " Apollo gasped.

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get my self into.**

"Uh oh, Nico said, looking at Persia worriedly. This, of course, did not go unnoticed by Aphrodite.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"It's way longer than that," Athena stated, grinning.

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele for a girl our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, **

"Whoa! You found it interesting?" Thalia asked.

**but everyone around me was talking, and every time, I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"The Evil Eye?" Poseidon asked suspiciously and worriedly, though no one noticed but Persia, who smiled at her father's fear for her health.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to drive a Harley right into your locker.**

'_So familiar!_' Hades thought.

S**he had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

Now that everyone had figured out that she was a monster, snorted.

"Nervous breakdown my immortal butt," Hephaestus said.

"Yes! that means that there's going to be fighting!" Ares cheered.

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobfit and figured I was devil spawn.**

"Nope. That's Nico," Persia said matter-of-factly.

Nico just pouted.

**She would point her finger at me and say, "Now honey," real sweet and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

Now Hades figured out who she was and Nico subconsciously pulled Persia closer to him and Aphrodite started to grin.

Hades saw the gesture and began to think to himself.

**_(HADES POV)_**

I thought to myself, 'If my son likes that girl and my fury hurts her... Uh oh.'

I swallowed and faced the book again.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

'Way to blow your cover,' I thought as Dionysus voiced my thoughts exactly.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about the Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**

"You tell her Persia!" Apollo cheered along with Hermes.

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course it did," my son said playfully, earning him a punch from Persia.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

"You're in trouble~!" Hermes sang.

"Hey! Singing is my thing!" Apollo yelled.

To avoid further screaming, Athena started to read.

**"Ms. Jackson," he said "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said "No,sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele.**

"I wonder which one that was," Athena mused before shrugging and resumed reading.

**"Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

The older gods gagged and turned green, but not with envy.

**"Yes," he said obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because..."**

"As if she actually knew something," Thalia scoffed.

Well, aren't they just the best friends to have?

**"Well..." I racked my brain trying to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and-"**

Zeus began shaking and grumbling until Thalia spoke up.

"Dad, forgive her. She's just an idiot," she said.

Zeus calmed down and Poseidon and I rolled our eyes. Our brother, the drama queen.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

**"Titan," I corrected myself.**

"Wow, you got the right answer only after the second try!" Nico snickered.

Persia blushed and muttered something about a darn son of Hades.

**"And... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"**

"That's right," I said, "Our little brother the rock."

Poseidon snickered and Zeus looked this close to erupting.

Athena, sensing the danger quickly read on.

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"How would they know?" Demeter asked, "They definitely need more cereal.

**"-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"That was... simple," Athena said slowly.

The other gods and I nodded. I could see Nico and Zeus's daughter smirking at Persia.

"That's Persia alright," Thalia said.

**Some snickers from the group.**

"Why?" Hestia asked.

"Mortals are strange like that," Amphitrite said.

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

"Isn't there a question like that on the application for the security guard for Olympus?" Triton asked uncertainly.

"Yeah," Hermes said, his eyes lighting up, "Prank idea!"

"Count me in!" Apollo and surprisingly Triton said, getting a disapproving stare from his mom.

"What?" He asked, "Just 'cause I don't come to Olympus, doesn't mean I'm a boring god."

Athena read on.

"**And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"She got packed too!" Triton smirked.

"**Busted," Grover muttered.**

"**Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

"How red is that?" Apollo asked.

"About as red as your sacred cows," Persia said back and Nico had a strange look on his face as soon as she said that. I wonder why.

"And you would know this how?" Poseidon asked.

"'Cause all awesome people know about my Holy Cows!" Apollo said, than paused as everyone started laughing.

"H-holy cows!" Ares said, "Not very manly at all Apollo."

To avoid further embarrassment, Apollo begged Athena to read.

**At least Nancy got packed, too.**

"Hey Triton! You think like Persia!" Apollo said.

I saw my son mumble something like 'I wonder why' to the girl.

"Hey. I'm cool with that," Triton said, "She's funny."

**Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"No. He has centaur ears," Hermes said.

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Boys," she said.

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

Thalia and Nico gasped, "Y-you! What have you done to Persia?" Thalia demanded as Nico jumped off the couch and hid behind the armrest/side of the couch.

"Persia is never and I repeat never polite! Not to Zeus. Not even to my dad," he whimpered and I started. She wasn't polite to me or to Zeus? How is she alive? Apparently, everyone else was just as surprised for they all had a funny look on their faces.

Hermes shook out of his stupor, got a camera and took a picture of the gods as blackmail.

Poseidon, on the other hand, had a worried look on his face. Strange.

Nico and Thalia got back in their seats.

"**I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "well, half-credit, Ms. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach.**

Zeus puffed out his chest proudly.

Hera rolled her eyes causing Zeus to fizzle down and me and Poseidon to snicker.

**The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

"I guess that is kind of happy," Athena said, receiving many unbelieving looks from the other gods. "Well, it means that they won against Kronos so that we may live."

We all nodded.

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"Boys," Thalia, Artemis and Persia said. Artemis smiled at her future lieutenant and Persia.

Probably think that she'll make Persia a Huntress.

Not on my watch. If Nico is happy with her, I intend to keep her with him.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Ms. Jackson."**

"Someone's in trouble!" Apollo, Hermes and Triton sang.

Apollo pretended to wipe a tear away. "Triton. You, Hermes and I will be great friends." They had a man hug and Athena cleared her throat.

"Done yet?" she asked.

Receiving no answer, she continued.

**I knew that was coming.**

"What? Santa Claus?" Hermes asked.

Athena ignored him and continued to read.

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

Thalia and Nico inched away from their cousin who pouted.

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"Probably," Hestia said.

"**You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

"About the Titans?" Nico asked, confused.

"**About the Titans?"**

"O my Gods!" Nico screamed, "I think like her!" He earned himself a punch.

"Ow! That hurt!" he whimpered and Persia just gave him the famous Jackson smirk and he faintly blushed. Very faintly. Aphrodite smiled widely while putting on her mascara.

"**About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

"**Oh."**

"Real smart there," Amphitrite said.

"**What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Persia Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"It's the best way for you to learn," Athena said.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever **_**lived**_**, and their mother, and what god they worshiped.**

"That's so cool!" Nico and Thalia said simultaneously and then looked at each other warily.

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be **_**as good;**_** he expected me to be **_**better.**_** And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"I feel ya, sis. I feel ya," Thalia said, patting Persia shoulder.

"Sis?" I asked suspiciously, "Zeus, is this your daughter?"

Zeus shook his head.

"Please," Persia said, "How could I, Persia Jackson, be the daughter of him? I'm simply way too awesome. Besides, I'm not as dramatic as Thalia and her dad."

"That was plenty dramatic," Triton said and Persia did the adult thing and stuck her tongue out at him.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

"Maybe," I said.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

"Food!" Apollo yelled.

Persia snickered and Thalia and Nico looked at her. "He sounded like Grover," she explained.

Thalia and Nico also smirked.

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city.**

"What's gotten you so upset pops?" Apollo asked.

"I don't know and don't call me pops!" Zeus rumbled.

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

"Pah. Science. So unreliable," Hephaestus said.

Everyone started. They'd forgotten that He was there along with Aphrodite and Ares.

"Why don't you guys speak up once in a while?" Nico asked.

Hephaestus huffed, Aphrodite fixed her lipstick and Ares whined.

"This book needs a lot more action. It's so boring," he complained.

I could see that my niece was getting pissed off. "Hey!" she yelled, "This is my life! You should be happy that you're getting to read my thoughts at all! If you don't like it, you and get the Hades out of here!"

Ares was surprised that he was yelled at like that and all the Olympians (sans Ares), demigods and I started to applaud her.

When the applause died down, Athena continued.

**We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

Poseidon looked at Zeus. Zeus looked at Poseidon. I looked at both of them. "What's wrong now?" I asked. They glared at me, then Hera turned to my son and Zeus's daughter.

"How is it that you don't fight and Zeus, Poseidon and Hades can't even talk without taking out their weapons?"

Persia looked at Thalia and Thalia looked at Persia and Nico looked at both of them. They then all started laughing.

When they finished, they told a mystified Athena to continue read which she did.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers.**

"Still not enough action," Ares muttered.

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse,** **and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

Hermes got some looks and immediately said, "Not mine. Definitely not mine."

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that**_** school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"Don't worry," Thalia cooed, mussing up Persia's hair, "You're our loser freak. Right Nico?"

I could see that my son was blushing a bit and Aphrodite tried to keep in a squeal.

"**Detention?" Grover asked.**

"He says it like she gets it all the time," Apollo said.

"I do," Persia shrugged, "From Mrs. Dodds."

Nico furrowed his eyebrows worriedly.

**_(PERSIA POV)_**

Did Nico just pull me closer? I could feel my face starting to warm up but pushed it down.

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

Thalia and Nico both started to laugh at me.

"Understatement of the year!" they both laughed and began to muss up my hair and poking me.

I stood up, glared at them.

"Don't worry," Thalia said, giving me a fake sympathetic look, "We can't all be smart."

To their surprise, I smiled, "I know Thals. You and Nico can't be smart, but I'm no genius. I'm a mastermind!"

Athena kept reading.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

Everyone (except Amphitrite and Zeus) blinked, then started laughing. Even Triton couldn't suppress a snicker.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

I smiled, thinking about my mom and I could see and hear the goddess cooing and smiling.

**_(AMPHITRITE POV)_**

This girl is so nice and kind! It's amazing how much she loves her mom.

As soon as Athena read that line, Hera, who just hates her husband's illegitimate children, said, "That is how it should be. A child must love her parents," about the girl.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

Hephaestus's eyes lit up.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

Thalia frowned. "I will kill that no good b-um. Witch. Yeah Witch."

Persia and Nico snickered at her cover up.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"O my gods!" Nico laughed, "Liquid Cheetos? You have the best descriptions!"

Triton was also laughing.

**I tried to stay cool.**

"Not possible," Nico said at the same time as Thalia said, "Don't stay cool!"

**The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

The entire council was quiet and the silence was broken by Zeus who roared, "Poseidon! You sired a child against our sacred oath!? I should kill her!"

Poseidon stood up and glared at his brother. "You will not kill my daughter. It was against our oath, but you also sired a daughter against the oath. At least Hades isn't complaining!"

Thalia and Nico both stood up.

"Father. If you kill Persia, you kill me too. She saved my tree from poisoning and saved me from an eternity of living as a tree," Thalia said angrily to a dumbstruck Zeus.

"Lord Zeus. If you kill her, you will have entire Camp Half-Blood against you and you will be killed by Kronos.

Zeus looked at my two cousins and lowered his lightning bolt and sat down, still glaring at me.

Persia looked at me and Triton worriedly like we might hate her or something.

"Lady Amphitrite and Lord Triton. Please. Give Persia a chance. She deserves it," Thalia and Nico said. Triton and I just looked at them silently and I guess they took that as a yes. Triton also smiled, warming up to the sister that he was reading about.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Persia pushed me!"**

"Pshhh. I didn't even touch her. Besides, it's her fault for hurting my friend," Persia said, waving her hand, "You know me. Anyone who hurts my friends deal with me."

I looked at her. That loyalty was impressive, but it could be her downfall.

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

"Oh shit," Poseidon swore and I looked at him. He looked so worried. I sighed. is he ever this worried for me and Triton?

The boy, Nico, pulled Persia closer to him and Hades was surprisingly putting armor and pillows around himself.

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

**I didn't know what they were talking about.**

"Of course you didn't," Thalia said teasingly.

Persia pouted and leaned back into Nico's arm.

Nico looked a bit surprised but didn't move his arm.

**All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

"Of course you knew that," Thalia once again said.

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit," Poseidon said as Hades continued to pile up pillows.

**Nico had pulled Persia so close that she was practically sitting on top of him and Thalia was laughing at that.**

**I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"You're going to make it worst," Hermes said, looking at my husband, "And I don't think uncle P would appreciate that.

Even Triton looked worried.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"I told you so," Hermes said.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

"No. Don't go with her," Poseidon said.

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

"So brave and noble," Hestia said warmly and the demigods nodded in agreement.

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

"I'll be okay," Persia shrugged and I looked at her in surprise.

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

"Can I kill her now?" Thalia asked. Zeus looked at his daughter proudly and Hera looked at Thalia with mixed emotions.

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

Thalia and Nico smirked for they also had a I'll-kill-you-later-stare.

But they gotta admit that Persia was downright scary. Probably because she had trained with a wolf.

"All of your's can't even beat mine," Ares bragged.

He glared at the demigods and they just looked at him in disbelief.

"That's it?" Thalia asked.

"Then show me your's," Ares demanded.

Thalia and Nico gave him their deluxe I'll-kill-you-later-stare and Ares whole body shuddered in fear.

Zeus and Hades looked at their respective kids proudly.

"That didn't scare me," Ares said and looked at Persia, "How about your's wimp?"

Persia took a deep breath and gave him her glare and Ares shrieked and hid behind his girlfriend's throne, who in turn reprimanded him for hiding behind a girl.

Poseidon looked at his daughter proudly.

Artemis was looking at Persia with renewed interest. I admit, she is interesting.

After that ordeal, Athena read again.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

"Monster," Thalia said, "You are pretty slow."

Persia pouted, got up and pushed Nico into her seat and sat where he was.

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"That isn't it," I said.

"I know that now," Persia said.

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"No! Don't do it!" Apollo yelled and was hit in the back of the head by his twin.

"Shut up," Artemis said.

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

"There goes his help," Triton said," What is she going to do now?"

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

My husband looked ready to faint.

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Nope," Apollo said.

"Can't you see that Poseidon is stress enough without your stupid comments?" Artemis asked exasperated.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan. I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman for us, the gallery was empty. Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

Poseidon was breathing really hard now.

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

Nico pulled Persia so close that she was sitting on his lap.

**_(NICO POV)_**

I pulled Persia closer to me. Hey, can't blame me. She was going to fight against Alecto without any training.

I just noticed. She smells like the ocean...

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

"Stop with the honey already!" Ares yelled.

"I think it's sweet," Aphrodite said.

Everyone looked at her like she was nuts, which, I'm sure she is.

I could see Persia roll her eyes and I yanked her even closer. I'm sure she won't care.

**I did the safe thing.**

**I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

"So polite!" Thalia laughed.

**I nodded.**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"Get away with what?" I asked at the same time as Thalia

Thalia and I got into a heated glaring competition and after a few moments of silence, we somehow started growling and snarling until Persia stood up and placed her hands on our heads and pushed us apart, giving us her strongest glare.

We both turned our heads and gave an indignant huff. Persia sat back down on my lap, surprisingly.

When I looked at her, she just said, "It's warm."

Persia suddenly snickered. Thalia and I looked at her. She just pointed to the gods who had such a partially scared look that Thalia and I started laughing.

"Moving on," Athena said slowly.

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

"With what?" Triton asked at the same time as Amphitrite.

They looked at each other. Oh well. You know how the saying goes,'Like mother like son' or something like that.

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

Poseidon started hyperventilating. Hestia went up to him and sat on his lap as an eight year old.

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Think again," Thalia laughed.

I shot her a glare and she just smirked at me.

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

Apollo and Hermes shook their heads. "So polite. We're losing you! Come back!" they sobbed.

**Thunder shook the building.**

Thalia rolled her eyes. I'm sure Poseidon would've too, but he was currently worrying over his daughter.

Even Athena didn't have the heart to laugh at him or tell him that Persia was right here, sitting on my lap...

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

"Pain?" squeaked Poseidon. Hestia patted his arm gently.

**"I didn't know what she was talking about.**

"When do you?" Thalia asked.

"Is she usually wrong?" Amphitrite asked.

"Well... yeah," Thalia said.

"Cereal would help with that," Demeter said.

My dad rolled his eyes.

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"Amazing!" Hermes said, "You could be my daughter!"

He said that at the same time as Thalia and I said, "Yeah. Sure." Persia got off of me and walked over to her dad and looked at Hestia with wide open eyes. That was so cute! Shit. Aphrodite is looking at me. Think about the walls. Yeah. The white walls and the pretty ceiling. Persia is pretty too.

Aphrodite gave me a knowing look. Darn.

Meanwhile, Hestia had made a love seat appear at next to her dad's throne and she sat in it.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on **_**Tom Sawyer **_**from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"She's awesome!" Apollo said, laughing.

"It's a good book," Athena said.

"Aldrin and Malcolm forced me to read it," Persia said, "It was the worst month of my life!" She said that with a pout.

Thalia also looked at me knowingly. Shit!

**"Well?" she demanded.**

"Well what?" Artemis asked, "Can't she see that Persia is thoroughly confused?"

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

"That wasn't even a minute!" Triton protested.

**_(TRITON POV)_**

"That wasn't even a minute," I protested.

I was pretty worried about my half sister. Usually, my dad had demigod sons, never a daughter, so I was surprised by the change.

I could also tell that that boy, Nico, harbored a crush on Persia.

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

**"**A FURY!?" dad screamed, "You sent a damn fury after my daughter?"

I was shocked and was even more shocked when my sister walked up to dad, who was struggling against Hestia right now, and said, "Dad. I'm alive. I'm here, so you don't have to kill Uncle Hades."

Dad stopped for a moment and strode over to my sister, who had sat back down, and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

Just as she was turning blue, Hephaestus said, "She's losing oxygen."

"Even if I don't kill her, you might," Hades muttered.

Dad ignored them, but loosened his grip.

The other two half-bloods were snickering behind their hand as Persia mouthed 'Thank you,' to both of them.

**Then things got even stranger.**

"Good strange or bad strange?" dad asked.

Instead of answering, Persia just waved Athena on.

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

"A pen?" I asked, "How's a pen going to help her?"

I saw the demigods wince. Nico rubbed his arm and Thalia rubbed her leg.

"Believe me. Monsters run from that pen," Nico said.

I was confused and I wasn't the only one, but my dad seemed to know what was going on for he had relax slightly.

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

"What ho?" I asked at the same time as Apollo and Hermes.

Apollo shot me his 10000000-watt smile.

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

Dad's breath was ragged and he crushed Persia to him.

The boy, Nico looked about the same as my dad, albeit better.

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear.**

There was a whoosh of relief as Poseidon loosened his grip by a bit.

**I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air,**

"You knew that your life in danger, yet you took time to snatch a pen out of the air when you didn't know if it could help you," Thalia said unbelieving.

**but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

"Oh," I said, "So that's how."

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

"Does Alecto still hate you?" Hades asked.

Persia nodded.

Dad hugged her closer.

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Wimp!" Ares yelled.

"Hey!" Nico and Thalia said.

At all the questioning stares, Thalia added, "Only Nico and I can tease her."

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

"No. Don't die, honey!" Poseidon said.

**And she flew straight at me.**

My little sister's face was turning all the colors of the rainbow from the way dad was squeezing her.

Aphrodite was going to stop him, but Persia just waved her off. I guess she could tell that dad needed something to reassure that she was alive.

I could tell that all the goddess were shocked by her consideration, even mom.

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"How is that natural?" Hera asked.

"I guess she's born to be a hero," I said.

The demigods started giggling and I guessed that I was way off. Oh well.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hisss!**_

"Water jokes? Really?" Thalia asked.

I tried not to get miffed.

Poseidon visibly relaxed.

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"Sometime," Nico said, "I really don't like your descriptions.

"Eh," Persia shrugged.

**I was alone.**

Poseidon nodded enthusiastically. "That's good!"

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

There were many face palms at that.

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"The mist," Athena said in a 'duh' voice.

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Magic mushrooms?" Apollo asked with a sly look on his face as he looked at Hermes who looked the same.

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

Nico laughed, "Not likely."

**_(ARTEMIS POV)_**

The girl would make an amazing huntress... I mused to myself before I was interrupted by Athena's reading

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

"Why is it that it always rains during the anti-climatic scenes?" Apollo asked. I whopped him over the head and my future lieutenant laughed. What happened to Zoe? Hopefully, Zoe just decided to resign or what?

"That means the fight scenes are over," Ares grumbled and sank in his throne.

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" All the males in the room asked.

Hera rolled her eyes. "The mist."

"Oooohhh," the males replied. Real intelligent.

"Boys," Thalia said. 'She'll be a good lieutenant,' I smiled.

**I said, "Who?"**

** "Our **_**teacher.**_ **Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

"Great. Now she'll seem like a psycho," Dionysus said happily.

Poseidon wasn't very happy about that.

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

"That isn't very nice," Demeter said, "She could do with some-"

"CEREAL!" Hades and Nico finished for her.

I guess she can be pretty annoying at times.

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

"Satyrs are very bad liars," Dionysus put in helpfully.

Zeus looked at his son who shrugged.

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me. "Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**

"Reeeeal serious," Apollo said.

"Reeeeeeeeeeal serious," Triton added.

"Reeeeeeeeeeee-" Athena cut Hermes off.

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

"So serious dad," Thalia said rolling her eyes.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

"Amazing acting skills!" Hermes said happily.

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Ms. Jackson."**

"Now, Chiron. He can lie," Hermes said again.

"Of course. He's had millenniums of years experience," I said exasperatedly. Boys.

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

"Of course not," Thalia said.

"I'm not sitting back there," Persia said.

Nico looked like he pouted. Hm. I guess he likes Persia. I can live with that. He seemed different from other men.

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

"He's gonna lie!" sang Apollo, Hermes and Triton.

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

"See!"

"No one contradicted your statement," Athena said.

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

"Cuckoo," Dionysus said.

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"No, because I was lied to, attacked, and being insulted by my cousins," Persia pouted.

"Well. That's the end of this chapter," Athena said, "Who wants to read?"

Poseidon raised his hands. Go figure.

**_(THIRD PERSON POV)_**

Just as Poseidon was about to read, a bright flash appeared and four people appeared and four knelt on the ground.


	3. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

"Introduce yourselves!" Zeus roared.

One of the men raised his head and said, "Theseus, son of Poseidon (Amphitrite stiffened), slayer of the Minotaur."

Another man stood up, "Perseus, son of Zeus and slayer of Medusa." This time it was Hera who looked miffed while Zeus looked proud."

"Orion, son of Poseidon and master archer," another man said. Amphitrite looked a bit mad at this.

"Heracles, son of Zeus and a hero," another man said.

Persia shot to her feet. "You!" she seethed. She stormed over and gripped him by the collar and looked him in the eyes. "You bastard. Why are you here? Of all people. Why you?" she roared.

"What did I do?" Heracles asked. Persia was absolutely livid now.

"Does Zoe Nightshade ring a bell or are you to stupid to remember the name to the one girl who gave up everything for you!?"

Thalia had stood up too. "You. Because of you, Zoe, Zoe DIED!"

Artemis had an angry look in her eyes but pushed it down. She and Nico walked over and took grabbed Thalia and Persia respectively and guided them back to their seats.

Nico had taken Persia to the couch where he placed her on his lap again and Artemis took Thalia to the love seat that turned into a couch and sat with her, all the while muttering obscenities about the man behind them.

Nico rubbed Persia's back while she vented her anger out. "Zoe was a sister to me. She was kind and she lost everything. She was poisoned and, it's my fault." She started crying and Thalia and Artemis was crying on each other.

Zeus, tired of being ignored said, "You all! Reintroduce yourselves."

"Persia Jackson, daughter of Poseidon (Theseus and Orion looked at the girl warily and she just glared back), Hero of Olympus, defeater of half the monsters that you old heroes did." The old heroes were shocked and surprised that this girl was so strong. Theseus and Orion were even more so.

"Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades, Ghost King and hero of Olympus." The Old heroes were shocked yet again. These Half-bloods were so powerful.

"Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus, though nothing like that traitor, Lieutenant of Artemis and Hero of Olympus." Orion was surprised. Artemis. His love.

"So how does it feel to meet your was going to be namesake?" Nico whispered to Persia.

"Weird," she answered back.

"What are you whispering about," Hades asked.

"Nothing," Nico said.

"I think he was telling Persia about how much he loooved her," Thalia said.

"No! He was asking me how it feels to be meeting my 'was going to be' namesake, Perseus!" Persia said quickly.

Perseus was surprised and Aphrodite was disappointed.

The old heroes were caught up to what happened and decided to see if these demigods lived up to their titles.

Poseidon cleared his throat and began.

**"Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks of Death"**

He paled. Death was not good. LP looked at Persia worriedly. "You're going to be okay, right?"

"Yup!"

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.**

"Have I been in many weird occasions?" LP asked.

"You have no idea," Thalia, Nico and Persia said at the same time.

**This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me.**

"Nope," Apollo said, popping the 'P'

"Well sorry for not knowing," Persia sassed, leaning into Nico.

The Heroes of the past looked at her in shock and was surprised that they didn't strike her down.

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

"Maybe it's because you're blind," Hermes said.

"I'm pretty sure I'll know if I'm blind," Persia and LP said.

Theseus and Orion scrutinized their sister. She seemed so disrespectful.

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"Of course they would," Thalia said, rolling her eyes.

"You should know," Persia shot back.

"I can't believe that we're related!" Thalia screamed.

"Me neither!" yelled Persia.

They yanked out their weapons an everyone in the room looked at the two cousins and to their surprise and Nico's amusement, they started rolling on the ground laughing.

One by one, all the gods started laughing as well.

Then the other heroes and as the laughter subsided, Thalia and Persia gave each other a thumbs up.

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**Almost.**

"Grover," Nico said.

"Goat boy," Thalia agreed.

"Satyr," Hephaestus inputted.

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

Nico, Thalia and Hephaestus nodded.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"Someone should give him lying lessons," Hermes said.

"Travis and Connor do," Nico said smirking at the memory of Grover's first class.

"Who?"

"Your sons," Thalia said also smirking at Grover's bad luck.

"What do they look like? Are they like me? Can they steal? Do they prank? Who's their favorite target?" Hermes shot.

"Do the have a girlfriend?" Aphrodite asked.

To save the trouble, Poseidon continued to read.

**Something was going on. Something **_**had **_**happened at the museum.**

"Nooo. A teddy bear started dancing in its underwear and Dionysus gave up wine," Nico said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Really?" Apollo asked.

"No."

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"That's pretty scary," Perseus said.

Theseus and Orion nodded. Heracles was still afraid of the girls, so he didn't say anything.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood.**

"Daaad!" Thalia and Persia whined.

Zeus and Poseidon looked ashamed of themselves.

**One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.**

Zeus began whistling at the looks he received and Poseidon read on quickly.

**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"Okay," Triton interrupted, "What's wrong with them?"

Persia just looked at him and said slyly, "You'll find out, young god-ling." Everyone burst out laughing at Triton's face.

Theseus and Orion were thinking that maybe she won't be a bad sister at all. Perseus was still mulling over the namesake thing.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

"The horror!" Athena said, "Why!?"

"Um. Maybe because I'm dyslexic?" Persia said in a 'duh' voice.

"I hate that," all the demigods said.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

"Yes!" Ares yelled.

He and Apollo ran over to Persia and held his hand up for a hi-five that was given to him hesitantly.

He ran back to his seat.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

Athena burst out laughing and said between laughter, "It means old drunkard!"

Persia mulled over this and said, "So Dionysus then."

Nico and Thalia started laughing and the other heroes wondered, for the thousandth time, why aren't they dead yet?

"Silence Perry. You too Nina and Terrence,"

'Perry', 'Nina' and 'Terrence' looked offended.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

"Oh well," Persia said, "It means that I don't have to see Nancy's stupid face anymore."

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

"Yup," Thalia said.

**I was homesick.**

"I miss mommy," Persia said, snuggling into Nico. Hades gave a blank look which she missed.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

Persia grimaced.

"Men," Artemis scoffed.

The men in the room protested.

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view** **of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend,**

"That's so sweet!" the goddesses cooed.

**even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"You're so kind!" Hera said.

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

"And yet, I get him again and again for the rest of my life," Persia said happily.

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

"You want to impress him don't you?" Athena asked with a small smile.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"'Cause he's Chiron!" Thalia and Nico said.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology **_**across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.**

"I hate that feeling!" all the half-bloods in the room moaned.

**There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

"I do now. Stupid ghoul," Persia muttered.

The heroes of the past looked at her interested. She had gone to the underworld and survived? Amazing! Even Heracles was amazed.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"Nope," Persia moaned.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

"ADHD," Theseus said.

Persia nodded.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **_**I will accept only the best from you, Persia Jackson.**_

"Chiron is amazing," Persia said wistfully.

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before.**

"Of course not," Athena said, "You should do that more often.

**Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"You _do _want to impress him!" Aphrodite squealed, "That's so sweet!"

"Wimp," Ares said and Aphrodite threw her shoe at him and made another one appear on her foot.

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,**

**"****_..._** **worried about Persia, sir."**

"Creepy," Perseus said.

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper,**

"Yeah right," Nico said.

Thalia looked at him in question.

Just when he was about to answer, Persia shoved her hands on his mouth and gave him a glare that said, 'Not a word.'

He hastily nodded.

**but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult. I inched closer.**

"Good point," Theseus said.

**"Carefully. Quietly. Stealthily," Hermes said, giving tips to the book.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the **_**school**_**! Now that we know for sure, and **_**they **_**know too—"**

"Of course they know. There is no monster who wouldn't know your name," Nico huffed.

Poseidon paled and Amphitrite looked at her step daughter curiously. What has she done to make her that infamous among monsters?

The other heroes were curious as well.

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing her," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the girl to mature more."**

"Mature? No comprendo signor," Persia and her cousins said in a bad accent.

**"But she may not have time. The summer solstice dead line— **_**"**_

Athena's eyes narrowed and her mind whirled a mile a minute and came to a conclusion and looked at the demigods for verification. They nodded and she leaned back satisfied.

**"Will have to be resolved without her, Grover. Let her enjoy her ignorance while she still can."**

"No one tells me anything anymore!" Persia pouted.

**"Sir, she **_**saw **_**her..."**

"Yes I did," Persia cackled.

**"Her imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince her of that."**

"Yeah. Except that she was standing right by the door when you said that," Triton said sarcastically.

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

Thalia sighed. "It isn't his fault!"

"He knows now," Nico said quietly.

This left the old heroes in the dark.

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Persia alive until next fall—"**

"Alive is good," Poseidon said. Theseus and Orion looked at their father, who looked so lovingly at his daughter. She was his only daughter after all.

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"You were doing so well too!" Hermes pouted.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

"Not a good sign with adults," Orion said.

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

Everyone held their breaths.

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"It was," all the Olympians said.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

"Imagine if there was someone inside," Nico snickered.

Persia punched his arm and smiled.

**A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clop-clop-clop, **_**like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.**

Everyone waited with bated breath.

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

"BOOOOOM!" Thalia yelled, causing some people to jump and Poseidon to drop the book. Her cousins to laugh at their expressions.

Poseidon rolled his eyes, picked up the book and continued to read.

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

"His senses must've dulled a lot!" Artemis said.

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

"I feel sorry for him," Persia snickered.

"Don't be, Peter," Dionysus said, causing Persia to jump, "They're used to it."

**"Don't remind me."**

The heroes of the old snickered.

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

"Good," Hermes said.

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

"He sucks at lying but he's good at acting," Orion said, "How does that work?"

Everyone shrugged but Athena opened her mouth and was going to give a lecture, but luckily, Poseidon took this chance to continue reading.

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

"Nope," Persia said, popping the 'P'.

**I didn't answer.**

"Oooo! Cold shoulder!" Apollo said.

Amphitrite looked at him and turned back to her husband.

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

"Worst thing to say to a girl, 'You look awful' ," Aphrodite said.

"I've been called worst," Persia shrugged.

"I don't care about my looks," Thalia said, earning an approving nod from her goddess.

Aphrodite on the other hand, fainted.

**"Just... tired." I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**

"He can-" Athena got cut off by all the demigods, even the old ones.

"Read emotions," they said.

Athena huffed.

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

"No can do," Hephaestus said.

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

"You are!" Heracles said, but Persia ignored him.

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

Apollo, Hermes and Triton's eyes bugged out. "Three hours!?" they shrieked.

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

"Of course not," Nico said.

**"Persia," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

"She'll take it the wrong way," Amphitrite said.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"Who wants to kill her?" Ares asked, a wild look in his eyes.

Hephaestus sighed and wondered how a guy like him could steal Aphrodite's heart.

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

Nico patted Persia's head and she looked at him. He laughed quietly.

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

"That was the wrong thing to say," Hera said, "Poor girl."

The demigods looked at her strangely. She was known for hating all demigods.

Hera just waved them on.

**My eyes stung.**

Nico hugged Persia who was pink.

Thalia laughed and Poseidon was going to send the poor boy to his father for being so close to his daughter.

**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

Poseidon sighed and Zeus looked at his son who was reading _'Wine Past, Present and Forever'_

"Make sure to tell Chiron to work on his pep talks," Zeus said.

"Hm," Dionysus said."

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

Nico shook his head and ruffled Persia's hair, "You don't belong there. You belong with me and Thalia."

Persia nodded.

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

Athena shook her head, "Poor girl."

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

"I don't think that's what he's trying to say," Artemis said.

"Yeah. I know that now. But this was before the moment my life changed," Persia said.

**"Persia—"**

**But I was already gone.**

There was a collective sigh.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

"Tut, tut," Apollo said, "What would your mother say?"

"Nothing,"Persia said, "She'll just give me her look that says everything."

"And that's enough to make you take everything out and fold everything nicely," Thalia snickered.

"When she gave you that look, Thalia. Nico. You guys took your hands out of the cookie jar," Persia snickered.

Hera gave an approving nod while everyone looked unbelieving that a woman could make three of the strongest demigods act like saints.

The old demigods were jealous that Persia had such loving parents.

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. **

"They hiking _to _Switzerland?" Artemis asked disbelievingly.

**Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month.**

"I hope father blasts them out of the water," Theseus said, "Though, I don't know a marine place called Caribbean."

Poseidon nodded at his son, smiling. Theseus looked away happily.

**They were juvenile delinquents, like me,**

"You're a juvenile delinquent?" Hermes asked excitedly.

"In the mortal world, all demigods are," Nico answered, "Though, Persia was once- scratch that- a wanted fugitive more times than I could count."

The gods looked amazed. What _hasn't_ the demigod done?

Heracles looked skeptical. "I want a fight," he said, "You can't be that powerful."

"Fine," Persia said, glaring that the jerk.

"FINALLY! A fight!" Ares yelled, before Hephaestus told him to sit down.

"After this chapter," Persia said.

Heracles nodded.

**but they were **_**rich **_**juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

The gods raised an eyebrow and Persia blushed.

"Keep reading, dad," she said, to which Poseidon complied.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

"They're nice," Hestia said.

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

"A child shouldn't have to have a summer job," Poseidon said, "They should be playing and having fun."

The gods readily agreed.

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed. **

"That's not nice," Amphitrite said. She had to admit that she liked the demigod... just a little.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover,**

"That's so sweet!" Aphrodite said.

**but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had,**

"Real convenient," Nico snorted.

Persia slapped his arm.

**so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

"You make it sound as if you didn't want him along," Orion said.

Persia smiled at her half brother, "I was happy that time that he was with me. I didn't have many friends at the time," she said.

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.**

"Probably did," Thalia shrugged like it was nothing.

**Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

"Unless you count some old man snoring and humming 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider'," Persia snorted.

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

The throne room roared with laughter. Even the old heroes were rolling on the ground laughing.

When everyone finally calmed down, Poseidon read.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

The gods had to stifle their laughter.

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

"Why did you confess?" Hermes moaned.

"He's my best friend! I can't lie to him," Persia said.

Poseidon was worried. Her loyalty can lead to Persia's downfall. And downfall was bad.

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much **_**did **_**you hear?"**

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

"Yeah. Not much, not much except for the WHOLE DARN THING!" Triton and Apollo chorused.

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"**

"Grover is a really, really bad liar," Thalia shook her head fondly.

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**

"He isn't fooling anyone, is he?" Amphitrite asked.

"Nope," Persia said.

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

"OMGs! I'm thinking like Persia!" Thalia screamed.

"Thalia," Nico said, "Run. Run to the ends of the universe and don't look back. If you think you're cured, jump into the River Lethe just in case."

Thalia nodded solemnly and ran off. Two seconds there was a loud splash and a string of curses.

Thalia came back dripping wet and pissed off as Hades. "Who the heck thought of the brilliant idea of putting a pond right at the doorway?" she screamed.

"But, there isn't a pond there," Athena said. She looked at Poseidon who was shaking his head.

Thalia stormed toward Persia and glared at her.

Persia gave her The Puppy Face, complete with big teary eyes, stuck out lips and furrowed eyebrows. "It isn't me is it Thals?"

Thalia tried to look away, but couldn't. "I-it," she stuttered, "It isn't you." She sighed in defeat.

The Puppy Face was gone and Persia leapt on Thalia and dried her and splashed the water in Nico's face and then dried him when she saw that he was almost drowning.

**His ears turned pink.**

"PINK!" Aphrodite said loudly. Everyone looked at her strangely and looked away.

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

"Why the Hades is it in fancy print?" Athena asked. Hades grumbled.

"It fun to watch them suffer," Dionysus shrugged like it was obvious.

The past heroes looked at the wine god like he was mad, which he probably was, considering that he was the god of madness.

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half-Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009-0009**

**"What's Half—"**

"Don't ask that," Zeus thundered.

Persia rolled her eyed. "It's pointless to say 'I had no idea whatsoever what the heck was going on so would you please shut up' isn't it?"

Nico nodded.

Perseus opened his mouth. "Do you always mouth off the gods?"

"Me? Why never!" Persia said scandalized, then started laughing.

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

"He is rich. Now," Thalia snickered.

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

"He don't have a mansion," Nico said, "he has dryads waiting on him hand and feet-er, hooves.

Persia giggled.

**He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"That was harsh," Theseus said.

"I know."

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"See."

"No one contradicted you, Percy," Thalia said rolling her eyes.

Persia did the smart thing and stuck her tongue out at her.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

"Staring's not nice," Nico said.

"Yes mommy," Persia said.

"I'm not your mom," Nico said.

"Yes mommy," Persia said, yet again.

"Persia!"

"Yes mommy?"

"Stop that!"

"Okay mommy."

"Thalia!"

"What's up dad?" Thalia asked, stifling a laugh.

"Not you too!"

"Me what daddy?"

"Ahhhh!" Nico yelled.

Everyone else watched on in amusement.

Persia and Thalia lost control and laughed.

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended **_**me.**_

"Persia. Grover's Knight in shining armor," Apollo said dramatically, "Keeping bullies away from her master since 1245."

Artemis rolled her eyes and thumped him over the head.

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

"Everything..." Hermes said, trying to be mysterious. Key word: Tried.

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

"Ew!" Aphrodite said, scrunching up her nose.

The other goddesses nodded.

**The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

"What's a fruit stand doing near a highway?" Artemis asked.

"I love fruits!" Demeter squealed happily.

"I know," Hades sighed.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice.**

Demeter squealed so loudly that it would put Aphrodite's to shame.

**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

"Oh Styx!" Nico swore, "It's them, isn't it?

Persia nodded solemnly.

Poseidon didn't know what they were talking about, but he started to worry, nonetheless.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

Poseidon started to hyperventilate, so Hades took the book and continued to read.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

"The fates," the gods chorused and looked at the demigods who didn't look worried, but looked sad instead.

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

"Ok. How is it that your not dead yet?" Heracles asked.

"'Cause. It isn't my string," Persia said sadly and hugged Nico who hugged her back.

For once, Thalia didn't make fun of them. Instead, she hung her head.

What could make such strong demigods act so mournfully.

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

"Poor satyr," Artemis said.

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

"They were showing me the sacrifice that had to happen for things to be set right," Persia said sadly, a tear trickling down her face.

Thalia was also crying.

Nico hugged Persia tighter.

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"Not funny Persia," Poseidon said.

**"Not funny, Persia. Not funny at all."**

For once, Apollo saw the solemn mood and didn't say anything.

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

Thalia sobbed and Artemis patted her lieutenant's back. Zeus looked at his daughter worriedly.

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there." "Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

"You had to see it," Nico said. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Persia nodded.

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that **_**snip **_**across four lanes of traffic.**

Persia cried. "He was a hero," Thalia said.

Persia and Nico nodded, "We know,"Nico said.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

"That is so you," Nico said, shaking his head.

"Wassat supposed to mean?" Persia demanded.

"He means that you are very naive," Thalia clarified.

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

"Now it works," Heracles scoffed.

Persia rolled her eyes at him. "Way to state the obvious."

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

"Mortals," Demeter sniffed, "They need more cereal."

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

"Oh no," Poseidon muttered.

Theseus and Orion looked at their sister who was laughing at something with her friends.

She must've faced a lot.

**"What last time?"**

Thalia groaned.

"He doesn't think like that anymore," Persia assured.

"I Know. It's just so frustrating," Thalia moaned back.

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

"I swear, if he still thought like that now, I will electrify his furry behind to the moon and back," Thalia said.

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me.**

"OMG's! Persia Jackson. Savior of Olympus and Defeater of Kronos, scared of a satyr!" Nico said, "That is unthinkable!"

"Wait. Kronos?" the Olympians looked around worriedly.

"You'll see later," Thalia said.

"I hate those words now," Theseus muttered. His brother agreed.

**"What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"You broke the promise," Thalia said dryly.

Persia looked away.

Nico laughed.

**Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

"No. It's real," Orion said.

"I know that now," Persia said.

Orion looked embarrassed.

**No answer.**

"He's probably worrying his horns off about now," Dionysus noted.

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

"Yep," Apollo said cheerfully. Too cheerfully in fact, that his twin whopped him on the head.

**Again everyone shivered.**

**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"I like forget-me-not's and Sakura blossoms," Persia said.

"I'll remember that when you die," Thalia said.

"I went to my shroud burning," Persia said helpfully.

Everyone stare at her in shock.

"Can we not talk about dying? Please?" Poseidon asked.

"Right. Let's have Dinner," Hera said, "then, Heracles and Persia can have their fight."

Everyone got up and walked to the kitchen.


	4. Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

Persia and her cousins ran to the kitchen where Hera gave them magic plates to wish for whatever they wanted to eat.

Persia wished for a cheeseburger and blue coke. Thalia also had a cheeseburger and Dr. Pepper. Nico had a plate of spaghetti and a Sprite. They also had a plate of blue cookies each.

"Why blue?" Apollo asked.

"Blue cookies are the best," Thalia said solemnly.

Apollo summoned a plate of blue cookies and bit into one. "I taste no difference."

Persia, Nico and Thalia rolled their eyes. "That's because you don't know what we're talking about. Here, have one of _our _cookies," Persia said.

Apollo bit into one and his eyes widen and he yelled out, "Oh Hera and all the others! This cookie is awesomer than me!" he crammed the rest into his mouth and tried to make another plate appear, but he didn't know what it was called, so Persia summoned it for him.

The other gods, wanting to know what made Apollo decide that the cookie was awesomer than him, decided to taste for themselves and their eyes bugged opened and immediately asked for more.

"What are these?" Theseus asked, mouthful of cookies.

"Sally Jackson's famous(to demigods) blue cookies," Persia said proudly.

Poseidon's eyes shone as he took another cookie.

"Now. Heracles. About that fight..."

In five minutes, everyone was gathered in the arena.

"Rules are no killing, no fatal wounds, powers are allowed, and winner is decided when opponent is incapacitated or in no position to fight," Athena yelled.

"Let the battle... COMMENCE!" Zeus roared.

Heracles wasted no time swinging his sword at Persia's neck.

Persia yanked her head back and uncapped Riptide, "Recognize it?"

Heracles faltered and yelled, "Why do you have my sword!?"

"Zoe Nightshade said I deserve to wield the sword more than you," Persia snarled, locking Heracles's sword with her's.

Heracles's slammed his sword onto Persia's arm and everyone, but Thalia and Nico's eyes widen.

Persia summoned some water and created a shield there and Heracles's sword slammed against it, effectively shattering it. Her cousins chuckled at the flabbergasted faces that everyone had on.

Heracles slammed a bolt of lightning at Persia, hoping to throw her back, but instead, Persia held her ground and at the right time, made a stream of water leading from above her to Heracles's head and the lightning charged through Heracles enough to make him collapse.

Persia slowly walked over and placed her sword at Heracles's throat.

"I-i admit defeat," Heracles grumbled, and after a few seconds, the crowd erupted with cheers and Persia got a standing ovation while her defeated opponent and his dad sulked.

Ten minutes later, they were back in the throne room ready to read.

Persia hopped on the couch where she placed her head on Nico's lap and her feet on Thalia's lap.

Thalia protested, but with Persia's puppy face, she finally relented.

**_(NICO POV)_**

**"Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants," **Amphitrite read.

"Oh la la," Aphrodite said suggestively.

Me, Persia and the others threw up in their mouths a little.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

"Persia," Poseidon moaned.

"I know. It was stupid," Persia said, rolling her eyes.

"And rude,' Amphitrite said.

**I know, I know. It was rude.**

Triton laughed at his mother and got a halfhearted in response.

**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, woman, whatever, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to he sixth grade?"**

Thalia face palmed.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**

"TMI," Thalia said, "TMI."

I nodded while absentmindedly smoothing her hair. I heard Thalia snickering and I stopped.

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

"Where are you going?" Thalia asked.

"Home," Persia said dreamily.

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

**"**PRANK!" Hermes and Apollo yelled.

"Go one step near my home and heads will roll," Persia said.

Hermes nodded, "Madame yes madame." He and Apollo saluted and I could feel Persia giggling.

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

"Beautiful," Poseidon said, earning a disapproving glare from Amphitrite, "for a mortal. Amphitrite is the prettiest when it comes to immortals." Aphrodite squealed.

"Amazing," Thalia said.

"Second mother," I said. Thalia looked like she had decided not to tell me that it was two words, because it was true.

"BEST MOM EVER!" Persia exclaimed

"Whoa! Three words there," Apollo said.

"She's worth more than three word," Persia said solemnly.

The goddesses cooed.

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world,**

The demigods and Poseidon nodded.

**which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"What about Paul?" I asked, then saw Persia's facial expression had changed into a horrified expression and began saying a string of 'no's.

I shook her and she looked at me and hid her face in my shirt.

Poseidon gave me a glare.

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five,**

Cue glares at Zeus.

**and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program.**

"That's good. Why'd she stop?" Athena asked.

Amphitrite continued on.

**Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him.**

"Oh," was Athena's only answer.

**After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

"That's so sad," Hera said.

"I'm going to bless her," Athena said.

"he unht ake ih," Persia said.

"What?"

"I think she said 'She won't take it'," I said.

"Sadly, she's too independent," Poseidon said.

Persia nodded.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

Aphrodite squealed, effectively breaking some windows.

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile.**

"I visited you," Poseidon said.

"You dare-" Zeus started.

"Yes I dare to break the rules to visit my daughter. A problem?" Poseidon challenged.

"See. This is a family," Hera said.

Amphitrite looked sad.

All the other children of Poseidon were jealous.

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because **_**it **_**makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

"Of course not," Demeter said.

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

"That was a lie in a lie in a lie," Hermes said, amazed.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

"Psh, not even," I said.

**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him,**

At that, Persia gripped my shirt in a death grip and I looked at her curiously.

Instead, she just held onto me and buried her face into my shirt some more**.**

**then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

"Men," was all Artemis said.

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her,**

"How did she treat her?" Poseidon rumbled.

Persia suddenly tensed and clenched my shirt in her fist.

Poseidon, seeing this, leaned back and glared at me.

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

"A child should not, I repeat, not, live in a mess like that," Hera screamed.

"Not a woman either," Artemis seethed.

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

"No shit Sherlock," Triton said.

For once, his mom didn't reprimand him.

Theseus, Perseus and Orion where pissed that a child like her had to live in a mess like that.

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"He. Asked. You. For. Cash?" Thalia asked slowly.

"What the hell does he think my sister is?" she roared, "If I get my hands on him, he'll wish that he'd never been born."

"He's gone Thals," Persia said.

When no further explanation was offered, the queen on the seas read on.

**That was it. No **_**Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome** **or something..**

"If I can't help him, no one can," Aphrodite said.

Everyone else, even the males, had a paper bag and was breathing in and out of it.

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before.**

"Yes. Why?" Athena asked, looking green.

**He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds.**

Persia suddenly tensed and hugged me around the waist and I could hear her breathing in and out.

**He called that our "Father-daughter secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

Three-two-one...

"SAY WHAT?" everyone screeched as one.

"He hit my daughter!?" Poseidon yelled.

I was beyond pissed.

Ugly-whats-his-name hit Persia?

The fires of hell erupted around me and surprisingly dad.

Thalia had a full out thunder storm around her.

Poseidon was shaking and a earthquake hit an island somewhere in the east.

Amphitrite, Triton, Theseus, Orion, Perseus and the other gods didn't look any better.

When Poseidon started ranting, I felt Persia's tears on me so I took her outside with a look and nod from Thalia.

I took her outside and held her until she calmed down.

She looked at me with her sea-green eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"I- Why do you care?" Persia asked.

"Answer me first."

"Okay. He threatened to hit mom if I do," she said, starting to cry again.

I soothed her for a few minutes before she asked me again, "Why do you care?"

"Because. Well. I guess it's because I like you. More than a friend," I said.

She looked up at me in surprise and I thought I blew it until she kissed me on the cheek.

She smirked, got up and grabbed my hand.

Together, we walked back to the throne room.

**_(THIRD PERSON POV)_**

As soon as they walked into the room, all talking stopped, then started up again after a few seconds.

"Are you alright!?"

"Were you crying?"

"Can we torture him?"

"I want to turn that monster into a jackalope so my hunters can hunt him down!"

"I would happily do-why are you holding hands?" Thalia.

Silence.

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Aphrodite let out.

Poseidon had a furious look in his eyes, then locked eyes with his older brother's eyes and an understanding passed through them.

As long as his child was happy, he'll be fine with it.

"So... are you official?" Thalia asked.

"Um," Nico stuttered, "Are we?"

"I don't know. Are we?" Persia asked back.

Nico's jaw dropped.

"Now. back to the book, shall we?" Persia asked, walking back to the couch.

She plopped down and when Nico sat down, Persia placed her head back on his lap.

After the silence was broken by Aphrodite's happiness, Amphitrite read on.

**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

"Ew!" Aphrodite shrieked.

Hera turned green.

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

Athena's eyes widen in understanding and was amazed that a woman would do that for her child.

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change.**

"He can do math?" Apollo asked in shock.

"You know what math is?" Artemis mocked her brother, who in turn pouted.

**Somebody expects to live under this roof, she ought to carry her own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

"It's her own home!" Hestia frowned.

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

"He was nice," Persia said.

**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.**

"They're like a gang of bullies who follow a dumb leader," Hephaestus rumbled.

Aphrodite nodded to her husband, earning a disappointed glance from Ares.

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

Everyone ran to a trash can and threw up in it.

By the time everyone was back, Amphitrite had to force the words out.

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

"He doesn't deserve to win," Dionysus sniffed.

"You were listening?" Perseus asked.

No comment.

**"Your report card came, genius girl!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

"Genius girl? Not likely," Thalia snorted.

"I doubt he can read the thing," Persia rolled her eyes.

"But, it's just letters!" Nico said.

"Your point?" Persia snickered.

This sent everyone into laughter. Even Heracles had to hold in a laugh.

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room.**

"You can't have a room that isn't your room," Heracles snorted.

"Well. If you just let my step mom read, hen you find out why," Persia growled.

**During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

"Eew!" Thalia groaned, feeling sorry for her sister.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

"Sarcasm," Apollo said, "I'm the king of it."

"If you're the king of it, then Persia is the God of it," Thalia said.

Apollo got on his hands and knees and said, "Hail. Great goddess of Sarcasm!"

"If you are finished, may I read?" Amphitrite asked.

Apollo got back on his throne.

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

"That bad, huh?" Nico said.

"I'll have a special place on the fields of punishment for him," Hades cackled.

"I'll help," Nico added.

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic-how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone-something-was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

Everyone leaned forward in fear, but Ares leaned forward in anticipation of a fight.

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Persia?"**

Everyone sighed in relief. Ares leaned back in disappointment.

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

"That's so cute!" Aphrodite squealed.

"You love your mom a lot, don't you?" Hera said. it wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Who wouldn't?" Persia shot back. And that was the end of that.

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

"She. Is. A. Saint," Zeus said in amazement.

For once, his wife didn't get jealous.

**"Oh, Persia." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

"I love her hugs," Persia said, "They're so soft."

"They hurt," Nico and Thalia said plainly.

"That too," Persia said.

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"Candy..." Hermes, Apollo and Triton moaned before summoning some candy each.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little girl doing all right?**

"Such a loving parent," Hera sobbed.

"Which you're not," Hephaestus muttered. Luckily, his mom didn't hear him.

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

"Why not just admit it?" Perseus asked.

"I don't know!" Persia said.

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally-how about some bean dip, huh?"**

"Stupid, good-for-nothing, piece of Minotaur dung who tries to..." Artemis growled. Her brother inched away.

**I gritted my teeth.**

Nico also grit his teeth.

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"How about a god?" Apollo asked suggestively.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy.**

"You're such a nice daughter," Hera said approvingly.

**I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

"Were you really that convincing?" Thalia asked disbelievingly.

Persia pouted, making Nico laugh.

**Until that trip to the museum …**

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. **

"She does that to you doesn't she?" Nico asked.

"Yeah," Thalia said.

"I want to meet that mother of your's," Perseus said.

"She seems interesting and nice," Theseus said.

"She is," All three future demigods said.

**"No, Mom."**

"Liar liar pants on fire," Apollo sang.

"That would be Hermes," Hades said, startling people.

"You have a sense of humor!?" Triton asked.

"Yes," Hades grumbled.

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

Nico and Thalia shook their heads.

"I know, I know. I should've told her," Persia grumbled.

Nico and Thalia smiled. "You said it, not us!" Thalia said.

Persia stuck her tongue out at both of them.

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

"Such a nice mom," Demeter said, "She's had enough cereal."

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

"That ought to make you happy," Thalia said.

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

Poseidon got a dreamy look on his face.

**"Three nights-same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

"Probably lost it all on his poker games," Zeus grumbled.

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

"We heard you. We just ignored you," Persia said.

"He isn't here," Nico said.

"I can still say it," Persia argued.

Nico dropped it.

**I wanted to punch him,**

"Do it! This book needs more action," Ares said.

**but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

"It was so hard!" Persia said.

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe.**

"Honey," Aphrodite gagged.

**"We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

"No ship Sherlock," Triton snarled. He couldn't believe that someone had hurt his sister like that.

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

"He'd better," Nico, Poseidon, Triton, Theseus, Orion, Perseus, Artemis, Hera and Amphitrite said. Yup. Even Amphitrite. She did like her step-daughter.

**Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

"Bribery," Hermes said, "Good catch."

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip … it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

"There shouldn't even be a clothes budget!" Aphrodite screeched.

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

"She's too nice," Hera said.

Zeus tried to imagine what life would be like if he acted like Gabe...not pretty.

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

"Of course he'll ask about the car," Persia said.

"Please, please tell me the car gets destroyed," Thalia pleaded.

Persia gave her a sly look. "Saa. Who knows?" she asked.

**"We'll be very careful."**

"Not," Nico said.

**Gabe scratched his double chin. **

Everyone turned a nasty shade of brown and green mixed together with some white and yellow.

**"Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip … And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

"She paid for the stupid game!" Orion said.

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought.**

The males in the room cringed.

**And make you sing soprano for a week.**

Apollo shrugged. "It won't be that bad, but if Smelly Gabe is singing, we better start running."

Everyone laughed.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

"I would've just thrown him on the ground, stomp on him a few times, take his money and leave," Thalia said.

Artemis nodded while the males all looked horrified (except Nico).

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

**"That's what I want to know," Amphitrite said.**

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

"Sarcasm to it's fullest," Thalia and Nico cheered.

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

"He has a brain?" Orion asked.

"It's probably smaller than a speck of dust," Heracles spat and for once, everyone agreed with him.

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

"Men," Artemis scoffed.

**"Thank you, Persia," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about… whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

"She knows," Hestia said.

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride-as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

"Definitely know," Athena said.

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. **

"Awesome acting skills," Apollo and Hermes said.

**She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

"She shouldn't have to," Artemis growled.

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car.**

"So he watched you," Aphrodite said, "Not a gentleman."

**He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking-and more important, his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend.**

"Of course he'll complain about that," Amphitrite sniffed.

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain girl," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

"That would be Athena," Poseidon said.

"What? It _is _true," he said.

**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve.**

"Go figure," Nico said.

**But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"How?" Apollo asked.

"I doubt that even Athena can find an excuse for that," Aphrodite said, "What? I can be smart!"

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain.**

"What did you do?" Hermes asked.

"Maybe if you let Amphitrite read," Hera said, "you'll find out."

**As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon.**

The throne room was silent as they contemplated how much power the girl had.

"Just," Hades said, "how much power does she have?"

"More than us," Nico said.

At the look that Thalia was giving him, he said, "You know that it's true."

Thalia reluctantly nodded.

"YES!" Persia yelled, "I've been waiting forever for you to admit that!"

Thalia walked over to Nico and slapped him.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For your girlfriend," Thalia said.

Nico blushed and looked to Amphitrite as she started reading again.

**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

"Of course you didn't," Demeter said, "You desperately need more cereal."

Hades and Nico blanched.

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

"You said it!" Hera said, "Get away from that disgusting man."

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,**

"Has Aldrin ever been there?" Thalia asked, smirking at Nico's face.

"Yeah," Persia said, not noticing her boyfriend's expression.

**and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

"As if that'll bother you," Thalia rolled her eyes.

**I loved the place.**

"The only time you and Nico would get in the water," Persia snickered, "And you only stayed knee deep."

"We were worried that Poseidon might kill us," Thalia defended herself and Nico.

"I won't kill you," Poseidon said, "I can't say the same about Zeus and airplanes."

All three kids paled at the thought of being in the sky in and airplane.

Orion looked at Thalia, "Are you paling?"

"No!" Thalia said too quickly, luckily, no one took note of that except Persia.

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

"That sooooo cute," Aphrodite squealed.

Amphitrite just kept reading.

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

"She's like connected to the sea!" Triton said in shock.

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine.**

"Persia is actually cleaning voluntarily," Thalia said in awe.

"That's amazing!" Nico whispered.

**We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

Zeus grumbled something about blue being his color and something else about a color stealing Poseidon.

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"That'll be nice," Apollo and Hermes nodded.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing.**

"Psh. How about blueberries?" Athena asked, "and blue corn?"

**They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop.**

"Boom," Apollo said.

"And Sally won the argument," Perseus said.

**This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano-**

"Sally Ugliano," Artemis frowned, "no way."

"Persia Ugliano," Thalia snickered. Persia kicked her stomach lightly.

**was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

"You have a obedience streak and everything else is rebellious," Nico snorted.

"She does listen to us, doesn't she?" Zeus rumbled.

"Please. She thinks that the best way to deal with a over arrogant war god with an ego the size of the universe was to challenge him to a duel," Thalia replied.

"And I won, right?" Ares said smugly.

"Nope," Persia said nonchalantly.

The throne room was silent as they processed this.

"Lies!" Ares screamed.

"Calm down," Nico said, "Lady Amphitrite, can you please read?"

And so Amphitrite resumed reading.

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. **

"Zeus!" Hera growled.

Zeus looked abashed.

"Whipped," Hades muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

**She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

"And she's doing it," Persia said with a smile.

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk-my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

Poseidon and Persia smiled at one another.

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

"She looks so much like her dad that it isn't even funny," Thalia said.

Theseus and Orion looked at one another, then at their sister and realized that it was true.

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag.**

"Fished?" Perseus smirked.

**"I wish he could see you, Persia. He would be so proud."**

"I am," Poseidon said.

"I know," Persia replied.

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me?**

"You saved Olympus, Camp Half-Blood and all that other stuff," Nico said.

"I know," Persia said again.

**A dyslexic, hyperactive girl with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"That's amazing!" Apollo and Hermes said in awe.

"No it isn't!" Athena shrieked.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean … when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But… he knew me as a baby."**

"Yes I did," Poseidon said, receiving glares from his brothers.

Poseidon just ignored them.

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

"She didn't know that I visited," Poseidon explained.

Persia nodded.

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember … something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

"You remembered," Perseus said.

"Yeah," Persia said.

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**

"That would really mess you up wouldn't it?" Theseus said.

"Cousin dear," Thalia said sweetly, "Persia is already messed up."

Everyone stifled a laugh, but Persia just smirked and said, "Cousin dear, you're the expert on messed up. Probably because you're more messed up than everyone here."

"Burn!" Hermes and Apollo yelled.

"No. You know who's the most messed up?" Thalia asked.

Persia got a twinkle in her eyes, "Could it be...?"

"NICO!?" they shouted in unison before laughing.

"Do they always do this?" Hades glared.

"Yeah," Nico answered, "Every time they get into those 'who's more crazy or messed up fights', they end up saying I am."

Amphitrite waited for everyone to calm down before continuing.

**I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

Poseidon looked guilty.

"I don't feel like that anymore," Persia reassured.

Poseidon gave her a reassuring smile.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

"She probably would've," Nico smirked.

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think … I think we'll have to do something."**

"Like send you to Camp," Thalia said.

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

Everyone gave Persia an 'Are you an Idiot' look.

"I know," Persia said.

Amphitrite kept reading.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"At least you regret it," Hera huffed.

**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I-I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

"And for the good of the world," Nico and Thalia said together before glaring at each other heatedly.

Persia rolled her eyes and waved her arms for Amphitrite to continue.

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said-that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

"Can you imagine what life would be like if Sally was the camp director?" Thalia asked

"Heaven..." Nico drooled.

"Not really," Persia shrugged, "It means that she'll have to train people and witness and maybe participate in battles which would result in her being hurt and I won't like that, so I'll take it out on Nico or Thalia which would make them angry and mom would get mad at me which would hinder her recovery. If that happened, Nico and Thalia would also not be happy."

Nico and Thalia nodded.

"But she would still be better than Mr.D," Thalia said nonetheless.

"Eh," Persia said before waving Amphitrite on who was gaping along with everyone else at her thoughtfulness towards her mom. She wondered if Triton ever thought that way towards her.

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"That's a good thing!" Nico exclaimed.

"Yeah," Thalia said surprisingly, "If you weren't normal, it means that you're not my cousin and that the only person I can beat up is Nico!"

"Hey!" Nico yelled.

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

"I was so confused," Persia said.

"I would be too," Orion said.

Perseus nodded.

**"Safe from what?"**

"Your bad luck," Thalia said.

"I have plenty of that!" Persia said happily.

The old heroes looked at' her funnily.

Triton asked cautiously, "Is that a good thing?"

"Nope!" Persia said cheerily.

"Ok then..." Theseus trailed.

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me-all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

"I remember them perfectly," Persia said smugly.

"Yet you don't remember what Aldrin teaches you," Thalia snickered.

"I remember some of it!" Persia huffed indignantly.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Nico shrugged.

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"They probably thought you were hallucinating or something," Perseus said.

"I thought I was too," Persia grinned.

**Before that-a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

Hercules and everyone else except Thalia and Nico gaped at her.

H-how!?" Zeus asked.

Persia shrugged.

Hercules stared at his half cousin in shock. "No way!" the old heroes gasped.

Persia waved a shell shocked Amphitrite on. Amphitrite didn't moved until Triton shook his mother.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

"You know. I have a feeling that all the schools are giving each other warnings that I blow up schools," Persia mused.

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her.**

"Why not?" Orion asked.

"Wait for it," Persia replied.

**I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

"I haven't seen her in forever," Persia explained as everyone else nodded.

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy-the place your father wanted to send you. And I just… I just can't stand to do it."**

"A perfect mother," Hera sighed.

"Which you aren't," all her children and step-children muttered.

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

"Not a school. A summer camp," Nico said, hugging her whilst Aphrodite sighed happily.

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"I think like Sally," Nico said, "COOL!"

"Darn. Lucky you," Thalia muttered.

Nico stuck his tongue out at her mockingly.

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad-who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born- talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

"Because she didn't want to let you go," Amphitrite said.

**"I'm sorry, Persia," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I-I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

"I won't ever leave her," Persia said, "Neither will you guys. She cares about you too much."

Thalia and Nico nodded.

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp …"**

"In the Fall, Spring and Winter it just becomes a camp," Athena said. Persia just nodded, knowing it all already.

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

"Won't want that," Theseus said.

"'Course not," Nico huffed.

"Yeah. Sally should be happy all the time," Thalia said.

"It isn't like her to be sad," Poseidon added.

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

"I swear. Your dreams can replace the oracle," Thalia said.

Persia rolled her eyes.

Apollo sigh in sadness, thinking about his oracle.

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse**

"Dad," Triton said.

**and a golden eagle,**

"Dad," Perseus said, copying Theseus.

**were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**

"Naturally," Demeter said, "They obviously need more cereal."

Hades and Nico rolled their eyes.

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons.**

Zeus smirked at Poseidon.

**The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings.**

Poseidon smirked at the now glaring Sky god.

**As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

All eyes turned to Hades who glared at them all.

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. **

"Is it him?" Thalia asked, both she and Nico watching her.

Persia nodded, not bothering to tell anyone who they were talking about.

**I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**

"Hah! Winner!" Zeus cheered.

Thalia face palmed and chanted, "He's not my dad. He's not my dad!"

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses.**

Everyone eyes Zeus (who was smiling like a clown) and Poseidon who looked like he didn't care.

**There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

Ares perked up at the thought of guns and weapons.

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

"I have a strange image of her just bolting up, looking straight forward and saying, 'Hurricane'," Hermes said.

Apollo snickered and was soaked, electrocuted and showed his worst fear.

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten.**

"Why, oh why did you forget dad?" Triton asked, hands on his heart.

Artemis rolled her eyes at him.

**Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

"Monster," everyone whispered. What they didn't know was which one.

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

"Is it the monster?" Hephaestus asked.

Poseidon's breath hitched.

"Nope," Persia said.

Poseidon's breath was let out in relief.

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't… he wasn't exactly Grover.**

"He was Grover... but he wasn't," Nico said, "He is Grover the goat boy. Duh."

Persia stuck her tongue out at him, " I know that."

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

"She obviously wasn't," Nico snickered.

"You have the best boyfriend ever," Poseidon said dryly.

"Yup," Persia said happily. At their questioning looks, she elaborated. "We can make fun of each other no problem."

**My mother looked at me in terror-not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

"He has come to lecture you about planet safety," Apollo snickered.

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

"Everything," Persia said ashamed.

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**

"Nope," Thalia said.

Poseidon was breathing hard. "What's behind him? _What's behind him?!"_

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on-and where his legs should be … where his legs should be …**

"Where his legs should be...?" Apollo said.

"Where his legs should be...?" Triton also said.

"Where his legs should be...?" Hermes repeated.

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Persia. Tell me now!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

"I can't believe she could understand that," Hercules said.

Thalia socked him in the arm. Hard.

He winced.

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"**

"She had time to grab her purse?" Athena asked.

"The purse is very important. It's and accessory," Aphrodite said.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

Demeter mutter something about cereal.

**Grover ran for the Camaro-but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, **

Apollo, Hermes and Triton snickered.

**and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

"Of course it did," Orion said.

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

Amphitrite closed the book. "That's it," she said.

"Why don't we take the demigods to their rooms? It's time for bed anyway," Hera said.

Zeus nodded. "Artemis, take the girls to their rooms and Apollo you take the boys. We will meet here at 9:00am. Eat breakfast first," he ordered.

Persia got a room half the a quarter size of the throne room and had a queen size bed on the far wall, a huge closet that was empty. The walls was painted so that it looked like the sea, very realistically.There was a flat screen TV and floor to ceiling windows.

Thalia's room was pretty mush the same but the walls looked like the sky, so light blue with fluffy white clouds.

Nico's room had a king sized bed and black walls with silver linings. Everything else was the same.

There was a note inside the closet that said to think of what they wanted to wear. They all put on some pj's and went to bed.


	5. New Reader? What?

**_(Persia POV)_**

I woke up the next day, stretched an change into a white and blue tank top, white short shorts and sneakers. Suddenly, there was a flash and I could feel the presence of a lot of other people.

One of then came up to me and I clutch Riptide in anticipation. He tapped me on the shoulder and I sprung into action. I gripped the arm and judo flipped him into the door and spun around and was about to attack the others.

Luckily, I saw Paul and stopped in amazement.

"Paul!"I exclaimed and saw my other teachers at Goode.

I looked at the person I flipped and couched near him. It was my classmate, Nick.

I peeked out the door and screamed, "APOLLO! I NEED A MEDIC IN HERE!"

Nico and Thalia rushed inside, weapons drawn and the entire crowd of people moved back.

"Are you crazy? Who are you people? Why do you have a weapon and where are we?" a girl with red hair asked.

"Persia," Paul said, "Answer her questions."

Apollo ran in and dragged the injured away.

"Swear on the River Styx that you will believe everything I say," I said.

Paul said it first and slowly, everyone did.

While they were doing that, I prayed to the gods that they would play a game with me. Pretend that we were all mortal and that I was dating my cousin. I heard an OK from everyone. And a glance at Nico and Thalia and I knew that they knew what I wanted to do.

Thunder rumbled.

"First, I'm not crazy. I am your classmate Persia Jackson." There were a lot of gasps at this. "These are Nico, my boyfriend and my cousin Thalia." I kissed Nico to the shock of everyone. "We have weapons because we're awesome and we are in my room right now." Even more gasps.

"Your room is huge!" Abby said, "And awesome."

I shrugged modestly.

"Let's have breakfast Persia," Nico suggested and everyone followed us into the kitchen where we all ate in silence and went into the throne room where the gods were in small form.

"OK, everyone. These people are my family members." I said Amphitrite and Triton had apparently went back to Atlantis with a copy of the book.

"This is Zeus, my uncle and Thalia's dad." Zeus looked all mighty.

"Poseidon, my dad." Paul looked nervous cause he knew that these were the gods.

"Hera, Thalia's stepmom."

"Demeter, my aunt."

"Dionysus, my cousin."

"Apollo my cousin and Artemis his twin." Apollo had just walked in and bowed.

"Hermes, my other cousin and thief and prankster extraordinaire."

"Athena, my cousin."

"Ares, my cousin."

"Aphrodite, my aunt." The males all swooned at her beauty.

"Hephaestus, my cousin."

"Hestia my all time favourite aunt."

"Perseus and Hercules my cousins."

"Theseus and Orion my brothers."

"And Hades, my uncle and Nico's dad." There was an uproar at this.

"You're dating your cousin?!" Lily asked.

"Yup," Nico said.

"What stupid names," Sam said.

Paul cleared his throat and said, "Please to meet you my lords."

The gods all burst out laughing as everyone except the mortals knelt at their feet.

"I am so confused," Karen said.

"These are the greek gods," Thalia smirked, "An our relatives. You are in the past and wea re reading about Persia.

"There is nothing good about Persia and these aren't gods!" the redhead said.

The gods rose to their full size and scared the daylights out of everyone and Nico and Thalia had their weapons at the redhead's neck.

She immediately apologized.

"Now," Zeus rumbled, "Introduce yourselves, mortals."

One by one they introduced themselves.

They were:

Paul Blofis

Ms. Fisher

Mr. Smith

Mrs. Brown

Ms. Jones

Mr. Wong

Ms. Maxwell

Mr. Roberts

Lily

Abby

Nick

John

Robert

Jared

Karen

Sam

Nancy Bobofit

and Nick who was in the infirmary

"Persia," Thalia's voice was strained, "Is this the Nancy Bobofit who picked on Grover?"

I looked at Nancy up and down before nodded and Thalia gave Nancy a kick in the gut before sitting on the couchwhere Nico and I were while everyone was absorbing everything and wrapping their minds around it.

I found a note that I read aloud: _Sally knows where Paul is and the mist is covering everyone else's eyes. So enjoy! :)_

When they finally got it, Athena made some chairs appear and everyone sat down. She filled everyone in before Dad picked up the book.

I knew which part we were in so I said, "Dad? Can you give the book to Uncle Hades?"

He gave me a strange look before giving the book to my uncle.

He cleared his throat and started, **"My mother Teaches me bullfighting"**


	6. My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting

**"My mother Teaches me bullfighting," **Hades read.

Poseidon paled and the mortals looked at Persia strangely. Persia was hugging Nico very tightly.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

"Just like me!" Ares said happily.

"That's why I keep healing you," Apollo said.

"And why you make out with Aphrodite," Athena said.

All the teens barfed a bit.

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane,**

"You've gone insane," Thalia confirmed.

"Shut up Pinecone Face," Persia mumble to the confusion of everyone but Nico and Thalia who electrocuted her.

"Grover Underwood?" Nancy sputtered.

"Yes. Grover Underwood," Persia said, "A satyr."

All the mortals were speechless. (Or wouldn't talk due to fear that the gods might smite them.)

**or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**

"Of course," Nico said sarcastically, "I totally knew that."

Persia stuck her tongue out at him.

**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo- lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom… know each other?"

All the gods and demigods except Persia and Poseidon started laughing.

"SHUT UP!" Persia said blushing.

All the mortals looked at her in disbelief but no one said anything. They were all think about why she wasn't dead.

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

"Stalker!" Apollo and Hermes yelled before laughing again. Artemis slapped both of them on the head.

"Are these really the gods?" John asked.

Mr. Smith shushed him.

"Don't worry," Hestia said, "Speak up."

**"Watching me?"**

"Persia agrees with us!" Hermes whined.

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."**

"He's a wimp," Nancy said. An arrow found itself bedded deep into the ground between Nancy's legs.

"No one speaks bad about my friends," Nico, Thalia and Persia said, giving her their deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stares.

Nancy nodded so hard that her head looked about to fall off.

**"Urn … what are you, exactly?"**

"A satyr!" Thalia said exasperated.

"I know," Persia replied in the same tone.

"Good," Nico said, also in the same tone.

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey-"**

"He won't like that," Theseus said.

"How would you know?" Hercules asked.

Theseus blushed.

"He probably call one a donkey," Perseus laughed.

Theseus turned even more red.

Persia rolled her eyes and turned to her uncles and said, "Read."

The mortal couldn't believe it when Hades followed her order and read.

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"**

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. **

"Me too," Nancy mumbled.

**Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

"He's irritated," Nico said like he thought that Grover would beat Persia up.

**"Goat!" he cried.**

"He said it didn't matter," Paul said.

**"What?"**

"Sloooooooooow," Thalia mocked.

Persia doused her in water to the shock of all the mortals.

Thalia crackled with electricity and fire a few arrows at Persia who dodged them all.

One of them hit her and shattered.

Poseidon looked at her in shock along with many others.

Persia smirked and waved Hades on.

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

"You think like me Paul," Persia said.

"Why are you calling him by first name?" Ms. Fisher reprimanded.

"He's my step-dad," Persia said, "My second one."

**"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**

"Like Theseus?" Apollo asked innocently.

Everyone laughed again, this time, some mortals joined in.

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like … Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

"Chiron, not Mr. Brunner," Athena said.

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

"Let it go already!" everyone yelled at Persia who hid her face in Nico's chest.

**"Of course."**

**"Then why-"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

"You realized your inner beauty and accept it," Thalia said like one of the cheesy commercials about pills that make you more beautiful.

**"Who I-wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

"Sloooooooo-" Thalia started.

"I GET IT! I'M SLOW!" Persia yelled.

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

Poseidon started hyperventilating.

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

"Safety is good, Very good," Poseidon said breathlessly.

The mortals couldn't believe that a god would care so much about his children.

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

"Yes," everyone said, "Who's after her?"

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

Poseidon looked ready to pummel Hades but Persia pulled him back.

"He's just mad at me about some things," she said.

Hades gave her a look of thanks.

**"Grover!"**

"Yes. Grover!" Poseidon huffed.

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

"Drive faster!" Demeter repeated.

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

"Pick your own strawberries?" Ms. Maxwell asked.

Demeter nodded, "Strawberries are good.

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

"CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" Thalia, Persia and Nico cheered, running around the thrones, weaving between the chairs that the mortals were sitting on.

They sat down on the couch and said calmly, "Read on."

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

"She is the perfect mom," Hera sighed.

All her children and stepchildren rolled their eyes.

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

"You're making this so hard for her," Athena said.

"I know and I'm sorry," Persia said.

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

"When aren't I?" Persia asked sadly.

Nico kissed her head and Aphrodite squealed, shattering the mortal's ear drums.

They immediately started talking and asking questions until Zeus said, "Apollo."

"On it!" he flashed a blinding smile and the mortals almost became blind. Luckily, their ears were fixed.

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

"That sounds ridiculous," Abby said, "But the fates are like that."

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means-the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to … when someone's about to die."**

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

"That he did," Thalia mused, not worried, while Poseidon was squeezing his trident hard.

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

"He also said that," Nico said, not worried.

"Why aren't you worried for your girlfriend?" Abby asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Nico said.

**"You meant 'you.' As in me."**

Artemis rolled her eyes. "You are making this so hard for your mom," she said.

**"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."**

"Shut up and fight!" Ares exploded.

He was doused with water from the Artic ocean.

He would've fought his uncle, but with the murderous look that Poseidon gave him, he stopped.

**"Children!" my mom said.**

Triton, Orion and Perseus were starting to get really worried.

Hercules couldn't care less.

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

"Probably a fury," Poseidon said, squeezing the life out of a plush toy he had in his lap.

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

Theseus, Orion, Perseus, Poseidon and Paul had taken up her chant.

**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

Everyone else was too.

Even Nancy. _I guess the wimp Jackson had a hard life. Oh well._

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness-the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"Slo-"Thalia started.

"Shut. Up," Persia said, remembering what happened to her mom.

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner … and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.**

"WHAT!?" everyone exclaimed.

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

"Crushed by the car. Fried by lightning and hosed down by rain," Persia said.

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

"Ow is all you say?" Jared said. Everyone gave a tense laugh.

**"Persia!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay…"**

"No you're not!" Poseidon said, looking over Persia's body for any wounds worriedly.

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

Poseidon was breathing inside a bag now.

**Lightning.**

"DAD!" Thalia screamed, "How could you! If she is hurt, I won't ever speak to you!"

Zeus could only hope that his future self didn't hurt his niece.

Paul was gripping the arm if his chair nervously.

**That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

"GROVER!" Thalia and Nico yelled.

The old heroes were also pretty worried. Even Hercules.

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. **

"No,no, no, no, no," Thalia said.

**I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

"You are a true hero," Hestia said.

Not even Nancy thought differently.

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

There was some laughter at this.

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to …" Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

Theseus gasped. "No!" he yelled, "It can't be! How are you alive?"

Everyone stared at the hero who was mumbling to himself.

Persia walked over and whispered somethings to him and he nodded.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is-"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

"Listen to her," Poseidon said.

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

"This is your fault Zeus," Poseidon roared, "If they are hurt, I will kill you!" Ares, Apollo, Hermes and Hephaestus had to hold him back.

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy-you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

"That's me!" Thalia said, startling everyone.

**"What?"**

"Don't what my tree!" Thalia said, offended.

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

"See. I'm beautiful," Thalia said smugly. The mortals, sans Paul, wondered if she was crazy.

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

"I can't imagine Persia screaming Help," Apollo mused.

"I see her running around like a chicken with its head chopped off and screaming," Hermes laughed.

That set the immature people off and they laughed, despite the situation.

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

"Loyal," Artemis, Athena, Hestia, Ms. Brown and said.

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

Poseidon began popping Tylenol pills.

**"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

"Loyal," everyone said now.

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

"Foood!" Thalia moaned lying on the couch .

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us,**

Thalia and Nico rolled their eyes.

**making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head,**

"You finally got it!" Nico said, kissing Persia's cheek.

**because his hands-huge meaty hands-were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head … was his head. And the points that looked like horns …**

"The Minotaur," Athena said in shock.

Everyone was wondering how she was alive.

**"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you.**

"I feel so special," Persia said.

"You are," Nico said.

**Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But…"**

**"We don't have time, Persia. Go. Please."**

"Please," everyone whispered. Zeus and Hades were also worried for their niece. She didn't seem to be so bad.

**I got mad, then-mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

"It _is _a bull!" Thalia screamed.

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

"She can't," Hestia said sadly.

**"I told you-"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

"That's my flaw," Persia said quietly, "Personal loyalty."

All the gods and demigods nodded. It made sense now.

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

"So does that mean he's heavy or light?" Karen asked.

"It means that he was lighter than expected, but he was still heavy," Athena explained.

"That's Grover's maiden to the rescue again," Apollo and Hermes said.

"Is he really my brother?" Artemis sighed.

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

"Dionysus," Demeter said.

"Hm," said the wine god, nose buried into the magazine page that he was reading for the past half hour.

"Mow the lawn!" every god yelled.

It was so loud that the magazine flew in the air before falling back in the god's hands.

"Sure," he nodded.

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine-bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps,**

"That's a lot of 'ceps," Jared said.

Sam swallowed hard.

**all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear-I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms-**

Apollo and Hermes were literally on the floor laughing. Even the mortals were laughing outright. Not Paul though. He was worried.

**which would've looked funny, **

"It is funny," Apollo protested.

**except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

"Ew!" Aphrodite said.

"I hope you fight the thing," Ares said.

"I don't," Poseidon contradicted.

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns-enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

"Only you, kelp head," Thalia said affectionately.

"Yup," Persia said, smiling at her sister.

**I recognized the monster, all right.**

"YAY! First time your brain works!" Nico cheered.

"Dude, that's what your boyfriend thinks of you?" Robert asked, disbelief coloring his face.

**He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us.**

"Mr. Brunner is such an strange teacher," Nancy said, flipping her hair.

Athena glared at her and Persia stood up.

"Say that about my mentor again and your parents will wonder where you disappeared off to," Persia growled.

"Of course _we _will have nothing to do with it," Thalia and Nico said.

"I agree," Theseus and Perseus said.

The mortals flinched.

Who knew that the captain of the swim team could be so scary? Even the teachers were startled.

**But he couldn't be real.**

"If he isn't real then neither am I," Orion said.

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's-"**

"Don't say it," Athena said.

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

Jaws dropped as the gods contemplated how smart the woman was.

"Why aren't you as smart as her?" Thalia asked.

"Probably because she inherited Barnacle Brain's brain," Athena said.

Poseidon was so worried that he didn't bother retorting.

**"But he's the Min-"**

Athena rolled her eyes.

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

"She really is smart," Hades said grudgingly.

Persia smiled smugly.

"Mama's girl," Sam said.

Thalia and Nico gasped. You do _not _say that to Persia Jackson.

"So what is I am?" Persia asked, "At least I care about my parents. Not like you guys, running around complaining about your's. I rarely get to see my parents so of course I'm happy."

"I don't even get to see my dad and my mom is dead so Sally is also my mom," Thalia said, "And she's perfect."

"My mom died. My sister died. My dad stays in the underworld," Nico said, "Sally gave me a new family. One that cares and provides comfort for everyone."

"She's our mom and she's perfect," the big three children said in unison.

"Paul pretty good too," Persia said as an afterthought.

Paul smiled. "Nice to see that you care."

Everyone had wide eyes at the three teens' declaration.

Nico smiled and told his dad to read on.

**The pine tree was still way too far-a hundred yards uphill at least.**

**I glanced behind me again.**

"Don't look back. Just go!" Poseidon screamed.

"Uh. Dad?" Persia said, "I'm right here."

Poseidon nodded and took a few deep breaths. "I'm fine. Read on brother."

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows-or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

"Why?" Abby asked.

"A Minotaur uses his nose to-," Athen a started.

Persia interrupted her and said, "You'll see."

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

The two immature gods laughed.

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

Abby leaned forward.

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

Abby nodded.

"She really is smart," Demeter said, "She deserves some cereal."

Nico gagged.

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro**

Everyone leaned forward.

**by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

"YES!" all the gods and demigods screamed. Even Artemis.

"The pig deserves more," Nico said, "after what he did to Persia."

"What did he do?" Paul asked, eyes narrowing.

"The bastard hit her," Poseidon snarled.

Everyone know didn't know gasped.

Hades decided to read on.

**Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.**

"Oops," Thalia and Nico laughed.

**Oops.**

"We think like her!" Nico said in horror.

He and Thalia mock fainted.

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

"How does she know this?" Orion asked in shock.

**"How do you know all this?"**

"Don't worry, Orion," Thalia sobbed, "We can find a cure."

Orion played along, "I don't think there's a cure."

"There must be!" Nico bawled.

Persia pouted.

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

"No. She was being a mom," Hera said.

**The mortal wondered if their parents would do that.**

**"Keeping me near you? But-"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

Poseidon could be mistaken for a ghost, paler than Hades.

**He'd smelled us.**

Paul paled. He had no idea that his wife and stepdaughter had to go through all this.

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

"He should stop eating tin cans," Thalia mused.

"He eats can!?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Persia said, "He's a satyr. Duh."

"Cans taste bad," Apollo said.

"Why in the name of my father would you want to?" Nico asked.

"It's totally bizarre!" Persia added.

"Persia, I don't think it's a good idea to speak like that," Mr. Wong said.

"Why? I talk like this all the time. They're used to it," Persia said.

Everyone decided that arguing was a waste of breath.

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

Hestia went up to her brother in 8-year-old form and sat on his lap.

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

Persia's breath hitched and she crawled on Nico's lap and hid her face in the crook of his neck.

"One of the worst nights of my life," she said.

"Is this?" Thalia asked.

Persia nodded and Thalia place a hand on Persia's back.

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right-it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

Ares had a crazy grin on his face and everyone including Dionysus (not that he'll admit it) held their breath.

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

Mrs. Jones patted Paul's arm gently.

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

Everyone let out a breath.

"This is getting good!" Ares said.

Aphrodite slapped him gently.

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

"No. Nonononononono!" Poseidon and Paul whispered.

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

"You have to!" Lily said.

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

Persia hugged Nico tighter.

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

"Run!" Poseidon said, "Run!"

"Dad," Persia said, "this is in the past. I'm fine now."

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

"Sally!" Poseidon and Paul said in horror.

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

Persia took a deep breath as Hades read the next line.

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes,melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply … gone.**

Poseidon sobbed and Persia a prayer that she was OK. Poseidon calmed down somewhat.

Paul was in shock and was frozen.

Hades thought a bit and realized that it was him who took her. At least she was safe. But for how long?

**"No!"**

"Here comes ass kicking, ninja, monster killing machine,samurai Persia!" Thalia and Nico cheered.

"Are you sure she can do this?" Jared asked.

"No kid should have to do this!" the teachers said in shock.

**Anger replaced my fear. New found strength burned in my limbs-the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

Ares leaned so forward that he fell off his throne. This set everyone off and Ares climbed back on his throne grumbling.

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

"If he does anything to him, I will drag the Minotaur's sorry ass back and kill him all over again." Thalia threatened.

**I couldn't allow that.**

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

Nico and Thalia face palmed.

Theseus looked at his sister. "Just run! You can't beat it!"

"That's right! You're a wimp! You can beat a monster!" Nancy yelled.

She was doused with enough water to fill a swimming pool.

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

"You need better insults," Nico said.

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

Apollo snickered. "Meaty fists."

**I had an idea-**

"You're doomed," Thalia said simply.

**a stupid idea,**

"You're safe," Nico said.

**but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

"It won't work," Athena said.

Theseus, Orion and Perseus had their eyes closed.

**But it didn't happen like that.**

Paul turned a terrible shade of pale.

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

Poseidon turned into a puddle of water.

"Is dad OK?" Persia asked.

"He'll be fine. He can still hear us," Apollo said.

**Time slowed down.**

"Him?" Nico asked worriedly.

"Nope. ADHD," Persia said.

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

"How did you do that?" Nick asked, coming back from the infirmary.

**How did I do that?**

"No! Not um... what's your name?" Nico said.

"Nick."

"No! Not Nick too!"

"Ha ha ha. My illness is catching. Let the world suffer. Ha ha ha," Persia deadpanned.

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**"My poor poor tree," Thalia sobbed.**

"What?" Nick asked.

"Don't worry. We don't know either," Karen said.

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

The girls all yelled, "EW!"

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

"At least you figured that out," Theseus said.

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

Everyone winced.

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

Tense laughter.

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might.**

"Nope, nada, never," Hercules said.

**The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then-snap!**

Everyone but Persia, Thalia and Nico gaped at the girl.

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. **

Poseidon's puddle seemed to be saying, 'No!'

**When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

"At least you have a weapon," Athena said.

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

"And that was without thinking folks!" Apollo said in an announcer's voice, "What can she do with thinking?"

"You know what thinking is?" Persia asked in mock surprise and every mortal wondered why she wasn't dead.

Apollo walked over to Persia and everyone thought he was going to ill her, but her knelt, placed his right hand over his heart and said, "You wound me, princess."

"You disgust me," Persia said back.

Apollo went back to his throne and sobbed.

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, **

Athena got it now.

**but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

Theseus gaped at his sister. She's done what he was most famous for!

"You're strong," Hercules muttered.

**The monster was gone.**

Everyone cheered and Poseidon went back to normal.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open.**

"Ouch," Sam mumbled.

**I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. **

"Perfectly normal," Athena said**.**

**I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help,**

"So loyal," Hera said.

Hestia beamed at the hero.

**so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover-I wasn't going to let him go.**

Everyone paused in respect for Persia mother.

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a boy with blond hair.**

"Chiron and Aldrin," Persia recalled.

**They both looked down at me, and the boy said, "She's the one. She must be."**

"She was... for a bit," Thalia snickered.

**"Silence, Aldrin," the man said. "She's still conscious. Bring her inside."**

"The end," Hades said.

"Are there any questions you want to ask us?" Athena said.

"Are you really Persia Jackson, the wimp?" Nancy asked.

"I prefer Persia Jackson, daughter of Sally and Poseidon and stepdaughter to Paul." Persia said.

"Why do you have ADHD and Dyslexia?" Karen asked.

"We have ADHD because it helps us focus on our surroundings during a battle and the dyslexia because we're hardwired for Greek," Thalia said.

"Hah! You speak Greek? No way!" Sam said.

"I know you aced my class, but you speak all Greek?" Mr. Roberts said.

"Το όνομά μου είναι Persia Jackson και είμαι η κόρη του Ποσειδώνα. Είμαι ο ηγέτης του αίματος Half στρατόπεδο. Έχω ένα κατοικίδιο ζώο Πήγασος και κάτι άλλο που είναι μια έκπληξη," Persia said. (My name is Persia Jackson and I am the daughter of Poseidon. I am the leader of Camp Half Blood. I have a pet Pegasus and something else that is a surprise. )

The mortal stared.

"Το όνομά μου είναι Θάλεια Γκρέις, κόρη του Δία και τον υπολοχαγό της Αρτέμιδος. Συνήθιζα να είμαι ένα δέντρο και δεν είμαι τρελός. Αγαπώ την οικογένειά μου," Thalia said. (My name is Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of Artemis. I used to be a tree and I am not crazy. I love my family.)

Jaws dropped for various reasons. Gods because she used to be a tree and mortals because she was speaking Greek.

"Είμαι Nico di Angelo, ο γιος του Άδη και ο βασιλιάς Ghost. Χρησιμοποίησα για να έχω μια αδελφή, αλλά πέθανε. Θα χρησιμοποιηθεί για να είναι νεότεροι και μεγαλύτερα από την Περσία, την ίδια στιγμή, αλλά η μοίρα έκανε μεγάλα τώρα," Nico said. (I am Nico di Angelo, son of Hades and Ghost King. I used to have a sister, but she passed away. I used to be younger and older than Persia at the same time but the fates made me older now.)

Hades almost cried when he heard about Bianca. Everyone was confused about the younger and older part.

"So the gods are real, huh?" Mr. Wong said.

"Yup," Persia said.

"Wait. You're the loser of the school at Yancy, so you must still be a loser no matter what. How did you get a boyfriend before me?" Nancy asked, "Plus you aren't a hero. You're wimp!"

To everyone's surprise, Nico and Thalia didn't get angry and started rolling on the ground laughing instead. Tears started leaking out of their eyes. Theseus, Orion and Perseus were also laughing as they remembered what happened to Hercules's sword.

"What so funny?" Sam demanded.

"N-not a hero!" Nico managed to get out, "She's not a hero! That's the funniest thing I've heard in my life! She's a bigger hero than Hercules!"

"What has she done to achieve that?" Paul asked.

"She's done more than all the heroes did. She did everything!" Thalia added.

"Stop exaggerating," Persia said blushing.

"But we aren't! Nico and Thalia said.

"Yeah, whatever. Let's read," Persia said beat red.


End file.
